Move To Canada Already!
by oncomingtragedy
Summary: One of the many reasons Castle and Beckett should move to Canada. It's simply meant to be. Reason #1: Tim Horton's. General fluff. Most likely a one-shot. Caskett.


**A/N:** Alright. Wow. So after years and years of reading FF, I've finally gotten around to writing something! Surprising, really.

Anyway. This is pretty much uneditted and written completely in one sitting. Considering I'm sick, there are probably going to be a fair number of grammatical errors and perhaps a few spelling mistakes. I apologize for those.

Reviews/Critiques would be much appreciated, though dear goodness, don't bust your brains. This is a mindless plot bunny that has been begging to break out of its cage for a while now. I've just finally let it. I may continue it as a series of one-shots, and yeah it'd be nice to know if people are interested, but I guarantee nothing.

A brief explanation AN is at the bottom of this one-shot, for those of you who don't understand the reference. To those who do... :D Why hello, fellow Canadian/traveller of Canada!

Disclaimer: Really? Really? I'm still in highschool. Fine.

I do not own anything related to Castle or Tim Horton's other than a profound bond of love.

* * *

"_Kaaate._"

No response. Huh. Perhaps he should try again?

"Kate!"

There we are! A twitch shuttered through her arm, as if she were restraining herself from reaching out to the passenger seat. Yet, there was still no reply from the lips he'd been deprived of for... two hours, now.

That was a pressing issue, which had to be corrected.

That and the fact that he had been craving coffee for over an hour now, plus a bathroom break would be most appreciated.

Which, naturally, brought a bit more urgency to the issue of stopping.

"Kate?"

They both winced in response to the unused octave.

"Kate, _plea_-"

"What do you want, Castle?"

A grin spread, and if Kate had been able to look away from the road, she might have been warned from the mischievous scheming his expression held. As it was, she was driving, and so the warning was lost to her.

"I have to pee."

What had first been patient humouring now turned to exasperated disbelief.

"Weren't you the one who promised me last time we stopped that you _didn't_ have to go to the bathroom?"

"Well, now I do. You know, I'm sure Alexis could go more in depth about it with all the sciency-stuff, but at some point I read that one doesn't actually know they have to pee until-"

"_Castle._"

While Rick was tempted to continue, sometimes Kate needed a bit of placating. He supposed if he wanted to visit the fabled Tim Horton's at least at some point today, he'd have to behave.

A little.

He schooled his features into his cutest pout (patented to work on even his mother sometimes), and stared at her, waiting.

As it was, it was only after a few minutes, just as many side-glances and a resigned puff of air before Kate Beckett threw the turning signal on, intending to turn them off into a rural town.

It was nearly too late when Rick realized there hadn't been a Tim Horton's advertised in the blue signs that announced the arrival of the exit.

"_**No!**_"

Both occupants of the vehicle were jostled as Kate swerved drastically to move back into the right-hand lane of the Canadian 401 highway.

"**What the hell, Castle?** I could have just crashed the car!"

"It didn't feel right, Kate. I had a bad feeling about that exit."

"A bad _feeling_."

"Yeah, you know. I mean, sometimes they're right: my feelings. Like when that bank was taken hostage with my mother and I insi-"

"I remember, Castle. I remember that one quite vividly."

Rick paused as he tried to discern her tone of voice, how her knuckles had just turned white around the steering wheel, and decided to tuck that reaction into a corner of his brain for a later date. He had a hunch that that particular conversation should be conducted somewhere other than a car driving through the middle of nowhere.

Canada certainly lived up to its name in the respects of emptiness. The town they had just passed had been the first in forty miles. Or kilometers, not that that mattered.

Regardless, now it was his job to ease the tension which had seized his partner's body.

"Still, you never know. I could have just saved us from wandering into a cannibalistic tribe of citizens who had been cut-off from the outside world for so long that they went crazy. Hence the cannibalism."

Had he not been watching carefully, he might have missed the twitch of her facial muscles trying to pull her mouth into a small smile. He had nearly always known she loved his wild theories and stories. It had been written into her body language and expressions since nearly the beginning of their partnership at the precinct, despite her acts of annoyance. Thus, he continued.

"Or perhaps the area has been plagued with a wendigo, and the townspeople have taken to offering tourists as offerings. For all we know I've saved us from the supernatural!"

"Right. Because an Iroquoian legend will surely end up preventing us from going to the only bathroom available for miles."

"Kilometers, Kate. We're in Canada, and they use the metric system. And I'm quite proud of you, you know. You've been doing your research on myths and-"

"I thought you had to use the little boy's room?"

He sighed. Hopefully providing her with her caffeine fix would put things right again.

"There's an On Route in five kilometers. Apparently they have an awesome collection of restaurants. We can stop there."

"Fine."

* * *

The On Route was indeed wondrous.

Four fast-food restaurant chains, a corner store, and coupled with awesome bathroom facilities?

_So, so awesome._

"Did you use the hand dryers?"

"Are you really asking me if I dried my hands, Castle?"

"Oh, come on! They are so _cool_! I'm going to order one as soon as we get back."

If he hadn't been so excited, he could have probably predicted the exact timing of her eye roll.

"Come on, Castle. I need some coffee."

He decided to pretend he hadn't heard the addition of "if I'm going to survive this trip with you" under her breath. She didn't really mean it, after all.

What was actually a shocker? She was heading for McDonald's, rather than Tim Horton's. No, no, no and no. That just wouldn't do. The whole reason for the whole debacle earlier was to try the drink and food that most Canadians seem to rave about.

"Wait. Let me. Getting the coffee is my job in this partnership, isn't it?"

After a couple minutes of debate, a satisfied Richard Castle headed toward the counter of Tim's with the intentions of buying two coffees, only to come back with two coffees plus a box of a dozen donuts.

"Oh Kate, I think I'm in love."

* * *

He did love it when she gave him those kinds of glares, filled with fake suspicion, humour-filled jealousy, and all-too-real possessiveness.

"_Really_? Which blonde has caught your eye this time, Rick?"

That hurt a little more than he cared to admit, but he played along anyway. His reputation was not unfounded, and he still couldn't believe she didn't bring it up more than she occasionally did, for all the times he had rubbed it in her face.

"She's a brunette, actually."

Yes, there's the quirk of the mouth he was looking for.

"Sleek and tall, wearing a very..." queue a flick of the eyes down to her chest, and back up again in time to watch her eyes crinkle appreciatively. "Attractive outfit, if I dare say. Hugs her body in just the right places."

He watches as she shifts in her seat as he sets their meal down on the table, conscious of what his gaze can do to her, and leans in across the flat surface so that he's towering over her. He can see her eyes starting to dilate now, and yes... This is why this trip to explore Toronto was a perfect idea.

"Not to mention she's armed. That's pretty hot... However, in this case I'd have to say that her bark is a lot worse than her bite."

She's started to close the distance between their faces, stretching her neck in attempt to allow their lips to meet. He shifts his weight onto his left hand and touches her cheek with his right, stilling her encroaching movements. It was time for the grand finale, after all, and her lips are just a bit too distracting for him to carry out his goal should they meet his.

So he unearths his trademark cat-ate-the-canary look, the one both of them have been throwing at each other since the very beginning, and which has never failed to quickly be accompanied by a fantasy for either party.

"Above all, Kate? The way she tastes."

Her lips part in a silent gasp, and oh, how beautiful she is.

"It somehow speaks of the richness of the depths within her. Character and... Otherwise."

Beautiful, and all his. Just a few inches, he can feel her breath on his face-

He backs away just as she closes her eyes, sits down and grabs his coffee, sipping it amusedly. He chuckles at the way in which her eyes open, astonished that he isn't above her any longer, looking for him.

"Yeah, I think I'm in love with this coffee. We should buy some to take home."

She struggles to collect herself, head dropping down to look at her lap as he peers at her above the lid of his paper cup. She has her closed-lip you-got-me-Castle smile when she looks up at him again, before she brings her cup to her face hide her reddening cheeks.

It's all he can do just to watch, coffee forgotten, as her eyes meet his own from beneath her eyelashes while she drinks. Watching, as her eyes flick down to where his mouth hides behind the coffee cup.

The change is disconcerting, even for someone who just pulled an act as he did.

Squinting precedes sudden widening of her eyes, before she is suddenly spitting her coffee back into the cup, coughing, gasping for air.

Choking.

He's beside her within seconds, coffee truly forgotten on the table this time, with a worrying hand on her back. He's trying desperately to remember what Alexis had said about choking victims while studying for her first aid course last year.

Something about abdominal thrusts?

But no, she's still coughing violently, and he thinks those are only for when the victim, _Kate- his Kate_, can't cough at all. Okay. They're not there yet.

Soon though, he notices that her shoulders are shaking from laughter.

She turns her head toward him, still trying to suppress a cough or two, with some drops of coffee on her chin, but grinning. He breathes in with relief, unnerved of how concerned he was, but relieved none the less.

"Castle."

Her voice is restrained, but thoroughly amused.

It goes without saying that now he is the one who is confused.

"Castle, look at the cups."

What?

"Pardon me?"

She rolls her eyes affectionately, and smiles another one of those closed-lip smiles.

Right. This was why he was so concerned. He loves her.

"Castle," she says, using two fingers to move his jaw to point towards the cups on the table, "Look."

So he's looking, but he must be missing something, because it's just their cups and the box of donuts, and the cups are both the same. The same swirly design with the Tim Horton's logo. Nothing new there. So-

Oh.

This time it is Kate who watches her partner's face light up, watches his eyes dance and back track over the logo of Canada's most popular coffee shop.

Because it's right there, like a beacon meant just for them.

Always.

* * *

**A/N:**

For those of you who do not live in Canada, or even those who do and are perpetually confused (I don't blame you, all my friends think I'm crazy for making this leap):

The slogan of Tim Horton's goes something along the lines of: "Always Fresh. Always Tim Horton's." It's basically implying fresh coffee/food.

Anyone understand why a plot bunny sunk it's teeth deep into me and refused to let go? Imagine seeing countless numbers of these restaurants everyday, where ever you go. With "Always" on everything? -cries- It's a Caskett shipper's hell. And heaven. ;P

So I maintain: Castle and Beckett should move to Canada.


End file.
